Philip of Macedon

Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, was born at Pella in 382 B.C. He was the youngest son of Amyntas II. and Eurydice, and spent part of his early life as a hostage at Thebes. The assassination of his eldest brother, Alexander II. (367 B.C.), and the death of his second brother, Perdicas III., in battle (360 B.C.), made him guardian to his nephew Amyntas, still an infant; but in a few months Philip made himself king, the rights of Amyntas being set aside. Dangers soon beset him from without and from within. But foreign and domestic enemies soon disappeared before the decision, the energy, and the wise policy of the young king. In the brief space of a year he had secured the safety of his kingdom, and had gained for himself a dreaded name. Henceforward his policy was one of aggression. The Greek towns on the coast of Macedonia were the first objects of attack. In Thrace he captured the small town of Crenides, which under its new name, Philippi, soon acquired great wealth and fame. The surrounding district was rich in gold-mines, which proved a source of great revenue to Philip, and supplied him plentifully with the means of paying his armies, and of bribing traitorous Greeks to open the gates of many cities. After a few years of comparative leisure he captured Methone (at the siege of which he lost an eye), advanced into Thessaly, and ultimately to the Pass of Thermopylæ, which, however, he did not attempt to force, as it was strongly guarded by the Athenians. He therefore directed his arms against the Thracians. After capturing all the towns of Chalcidice—the last of which was the important city of Olynthus—he made peace with the Thracians, and next year with the Athenians, who had been at war with him in defence of their allies the Olynthians. It was this siege of Olynthus by Philip which called forth the famous Olynthiac orations of Demosthenes. Philip was now requested by the Thebans to interfere in the war ('the Sacred War') which was raging between them and the Phocians. He marched into Phocis, destroyed its cities, and sent as colonists to Thrace many of the inhabitants (346 B.C.); and he was appointed, jointly with the Thebans and Thessalians, as president of the Pythian games. His next step was to secure a footing in the Peloponnese, by espousing the cause of the Argives, Messenians, and others against the Spartans. In 339 B.C. the Amphictyonic Council declared war against the Locrians of Amphissa; and, in the following year, appointed Philip commander-in-chief of their forces. The Athenians were alarmed at his approach into Greece in this capacity, and formed a league with the Thebans against him; but their united army was utterly defeated at the battle of Chæronea (338 B.C.), and all Greece was at the feet of the conqueror. He was now in a position to enter on the great dream of his later years—viz. to invade the Persian empire, and revenge the injuries of Greece. Deputies from the different states of Greece assembled in congress at Corinth, and, after resolving to make war on the Persian king, chose Philip as leader of their armies. Preparations were in progress for this great expedition when he was suddenly cut off by the hand of the assassin Pausanias, at a festival to celebrate the marriage of his daughter with Alexander of Epirus (336 B.C.). Philip was a man given to self-indulgence and sensuality; he was faithless in the observance of treaty obligations, and unscrupulous as to the means by which he gained his ends; but of his energy, acuteness, and eloquence it is impossible to speak too highly. He was at the same time a lover of learning and a liberal patron of learned men. See works cited at GREECE and DEMOSTHENES.